


Albus Dumbledore and the Great "Squib" Potter

by TheBestLiesAreBeautiful



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dubious Morality, Gen, Muggleborns working for MI5, Partner Dumbledore, Psychological Torture, Psychological Warfare, Squib and Muggleborn-centric, Squibs, semi-squib harry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:55:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29984574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBestLiesAreBeautiful/pseuds/TheBestLiesAreBeautiful
Summary: When Dumbledore finds out that the eleven years old Harry inexplicably turned into a squib, he removes the child away from Dursleys so that Harry can live happily away from the wizard society. Seven years later, the Ministry of Magic uncovers his secret and presents him an ultimatum - either bring Harry Potter back, or be imprisoned in Azkaban forever. Desperate to keep Voldemort at bay as much as possible, he relents to the Ministry and vows to protect Harry from both the scheming politicians and dark wizards at all cost. It may delight him to find out that Harry isn’t as defenseless as he thought for a squib...
Relationships: Arthur Weasley/Molly Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Lucius Malfoy/Narcissa Black Malfoy
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	Albus Dumbledore and the Great "Squib" Potter

In a stagnant air ample with tension, Dumbledore faced the panel of wizards who threw scrutinizing and furious stares at him. It was an utter surprise that someone dared go behind the Gringotts goblins’ backs and break the privacy regulations in a misguided desire of justice, hence he stood here with almost no preparation to defend himself. The aurors and Fudge jumped at him in the middle of the lunch in Hogwarts and apprehended him in front of the horrified - and some delighted albeit confused - students and faculty members despite their protests. 

“Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore,” Fudge hit the gavel, “do you have anything to state in defense of yourself against the crime of falsifying the death certificate of Harry James Potter and defrauding the Ministry of Magic?” 

_ Defrauding, _ Dumbledore almost scoffed. The Ministry of Magic had been attempting over seven years to claim Potter’s inheritance since Dumbledore declared the unfortunate, accidental “death” of Harry Potter. Gringotts goblins, however, refused the demand since the will of James and Lily stated that should Harry Potter pass away before he claimed the Potter vault, their assets would be remitted to Remus Lupin, Weasleys, and Longbottoms. Dumbledore had to stop the Ministry and side with the bank multiple times because all the beneficiaries refused to accept Potter inheritance, and the Ministry argued that their refusals should allow the Ministry to access the Potter assets. Dumbledore was very close to convincing Weasleys and Augusta Longbottom to honor the will, and end the legal challenges. 

“Esteemed Minister,” Dumbledore started, “when I falsely declared Harry Potter’s death to the Ministry and the public, I chose to accept the consequences if the ruse would ever falter in the future. However, I would like to state that my deeds were in Harry Potter’s best interest because I believe that he would live happily in a muggle world.” 

“Denying a wizard’s right from a good education and socialization with his peers is supposed to make him happy?” Lucius leaned toward from his seat, “have you forgotten that the entire purpose of the Statute of Secrecy was to stop the persecution of our kinds by muggles? Unless you have been harboring him under your care, which is another issue, what right do you have to deny a child from his happiness of living in our society?” 

“There lies a problem, Mr. Malfoy. He is happy in a  _ muggle  _ school,” Dumbledore smiled ruefully. 

“Muggle school? What needs does a wizard have in a muggle school?” Amelia Bones frowned. Her face paled, “Professor, do you mean that -” 

“That Harry Potter is a squib? Yes, that is indeed correct.” 

The court room erupted in a mix of angry, despaired, and disbelieving cries. Several Wizengamot members pointed fingers at Dumbledore calling him a liar, and some burst into tears. Others who are more poised like Fudge, Bones, and Malfoy froze in their seats, processing the horrible truth that Dumbledore just dropped in the courtroom. Dumbledore sighed. 

“Silence!” Fudge slammed his gabel on his desk. The council eventually returned to the order. “That can’t be true, Dumbledore. How could a squib have defeated You-Know-Who then? Do you realize this is a huge danger for all of us?” 

“I don’t have a perfect explanation for the day that Potter couple was murdered and Voldemort temporarily vanished,” said Dumbleore, ignoring flinches of some sappy wizards, “but when the death curse rebounded from the baby Harry, it seemed to have disfigured Harry’s magic permanently. I was not aware of this until professor McGonagall noticed the absence of Harry Potter’s letter in a year that he turned eleven. When I visited the relatives whom I entrusted Harry with, they told me that they had not seen Harry causing any magical instances. I bribed one of the St. Mungo healers - who passed away last year - to diagnose him, and when the healer determined that he was a squib, I decided to remove him from his relatives.” 

Bones gulped. “Continue.” 

“I planned to take this secret to my grave. I left Harry at another squib’s residence - Arabella Figg- and subsequently dropped by Hogwarts . I cast an elaborate memory modification spell to have Professor McGonagall think that I just told her of Harry Potter’s death in a freak accident during a muggle school field trip. It served as an adequate deception because there really was a fatal accident in Harry’s school that caused deaths of a few students.” 

  
  


“You informed the Ministry that Harry Potter died, and the muggle relatives already finished the funeral. How did you forge his death certificate, then?” One Wizangamot member inquired. 

“There is a fatal flaw in that certificate, Mr. MacMillan,” said Dumbledore. “It’s true that the certificate would refuse to be completed if the wizard was alive. However, the spell in that certificate template does not react to the names of non-wizards such as squibs or muggles. In fact, it would not be any different from a muggle death certificate if it were written for any non-magical life forms.”

“Did you transfigure a random body to look like Harry Potter when we held another funeral for him?” A toad-like woman who sat next to Fudge asked.

“No. I used a prohibited alchemy to produce a perfect replica of Harry Potter’s physical body during the two-day period that I requested from you so that I could retrieve his  _ corpse. _ ” 

“Just in two days? That is...utterly impressive.” 

Dumbledore slightly nodded at Bones’ reluctant compliment. “I didn’t want anybody to refute me. As you are aware, right after  _ The Daily Prophet  _ reported Harry’s death, several wizards spread a rumor of me training Harry Potter in secret. I may have had my own militia of Order of Phoenix, but I am not senile enough to train a child in an isolation. By creating a perfect replica of Harry Potter’s body, no one would dig out the grave and expose me. I have spent the next seven years tracking down any traces of Voldemort and stopping his return at all cost - but as we know, he returned last year and damaged a third of Diagon Alley thanks to the  _ timely _ response from you.”

“What did you do with the child then?” Fudge scribbled down several more offenses and ignored Dumbledore’s barbed comment.

“The entire purpose of keeping Harry with his relatives is to not just hide him from wizards but also grant him a unique protection that necessitated Petunia Dursley.” 

“Did you use a Bond of Blood Charm?” Lucius asked.

“Correct, Mr. Malfoy,” Dumbledore gave him a complimentary smile, “this charm is a very old spell that comprises a sacrifice of a family member for another, and acceptance of the beneficiary by another surviving family member. Petunia Dursley may have loathed magic, but her residence was a far safer choice. Placing him with a wizard family would subject him to constant threats from Voldemort sympathizers and followers. However, this spell doesn’t function if a child’s magic is too weak. Once I learned that Harry was a squib, I no longer deemed it necessary to have Petunia Dursley take care of him anymore as the spell was defunct from the beginning. I placed him in a children’s home in Arnold, Nottingham that Arabella Figg’s long time friend, Sterling Richter managed. He passed away just a month ago on Harry’s eighteenth birthday.” 

“Why did you do all this?” Fudge asked, barely holding his anger. His gavel, which he laid on the desk, lightly trembled. Veins appeared on his hands and forehead. “Harry Potter may be a squib - but squibs still have uses for our wizard society. It was barely legal in the first place that we let you place Harry Potter in a muggle household, and you go on to commit a series of unlawful actions out of your self-righteousness? Why?” 

“Minister Fudge, do you recall the suicide of Argus Filch four years ago? During the second challenge of Triwizard?” Dumbledore’s voice showed a hint of anger. 

“Who?” Fudge tapped his finger. “Oh yes, that squib employee of yours that threw himself at the divination tower. Why does it matter?” 

“You already forgot it, minister, “ Dumbledore sighed. “You mention the uses of squibs, but should we not acknowledge that we look down on them, even more than we do on muggles? How many times has the Ministry ever proactively spoken in favors of squibs? Has the ministry approved a research fund for curing squibs in the last five decades? How often have the wizard families openly admitted that they have squib relatives, even those that pride themselves as pro-muggles? The answer is  _ negative  _ for all those questions. Squibs have been the most oppressed citizens in our society next to any other non-human creatures.”

“How is that relevant-” Fudge interjected only to be stopped by Bone’s subtle elbow nudge. 

“How can I, in a good conscience, force a powerless, magically incompetent child to adapt into out wizard society, especially when he would have faced the very same reaction that all of you displayed, but by the  _ entire society  _ forever _?  _ What possible future would he have been able to pursue? Being the second squib janitor in Hogwart’s history? The only famous squib in our history was Angus Buchanan, a man who snuck into the first year’s sorting only to be rejected and was denounced by his own family. It was a  _ muggle man  _ that took him in and raised him to be one of the most famous rugby players. After the publication of his memoir, the Society of Supports for Squibs was founded, but once the founder, Idris Oakby passed away, the organization has become stagnant. No effort has been ever made to better the lives of squibs by neither government nor the respected members of our society. Think of the pressures, pity, derision and scorn that Harry would have faced, nowhere to fit in!”Dumbledore’s crescending voice put all the council members in a solemn quietness. A few Wizengamot members pursed their lips and quietly nodded in acknowledgement, and many looked uncomfortable, even Fudge. 

Dumbledore did not hope for the total absolution of his crimes, much less the avoidance of Azkaban, but the council had to listen for once instead of operating in their corrupted self-interest under the facade of fairness and order. His only bet was Amelia Bones sentencing him to a  _ very long  _ probation and permanent strip of his teaching positions, but even it was a thin stretch of hope.

“I must concede that you are correct on our society’s historical attitude toward the squibs, Professor Dumbledore,” said Bones. “But had you come forward with Harry’s squib status, perhaps we could have done something. We could have helped you prevent You-Know-Who’s return if you had confided in us more.” 

“I am sorry, madame Bones, but may I interject? I may have remembered something very important,” a grey-haired wizard with sympathetic expression quipped in. 

“Mr. Ogden?” 

“Professor Dumbledore, you said that Harry Potter was under Sterling Richter’s guardianship, am I right?” 

“Yes. Do you know the name?” Dumbledore, mildly surprised, looked up at the old wizard who sat on the third row.

“Why, yes! I remember now. He was my classmate who left in my fourth year in Hogwarts!” Ogden titled his head, “a very clever lad. He excelled in the charms and the defense against the dark arts. Quite an intuitive folk, too. I know that he grew up in Arnold. I wondered why he left Hogwarts, who would have thought that he owned a muggle orphanage? Nuttley, you work in Improper Use of Magic Office, are there wizards who live in Arnold?”

“I don’t recall any wizard of that name within fifty kilometres of Nottingham, I should know,” A short witch who sat on the second row answered with a bemused expression.

A shock seized the court in a brief silence. 

“Dumbledore, did you know this?” Fudge barked after breaking from a stupor. 

“No, minister. I can swear by a vial of Veritaserum that I do not recall the name,” said Dumbledore, surprised himself. 

“He was a very secretive person, too. No wonder you don’t remember him!” Ogden quipped.

“Shacklebolt!” 

“Yes, minister?” The tall wizard who silently stood by Fudge answered. 

“Retrieve every bit of information that the ministry holds of Sterling Richter immediately!” 

“What is the rush, minister? Yes, he may have been a wizard, but he clearly seems to have distanced from the wizard society -” 

“Because a wizard who eluded the ministry’s record and lived a muggle society for decades can be extremely dangerous!” Fudge yelled. “Meeting adjourned!” 

“Minister, but what about the charges - ” Percy Weasley interrupted. 

“Fine, fine!” Fudge irritably shouted, “For those in favor of prosecuting Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore of defraud, falsification of official documents, adolescent kidnapping, illegal use of an alchemy, illegal obliviation, misappropriation of the ministry fund, raise your hand!” 

The half of the council raised their hands. 

“An exact half it is. Then by the authority of I, the minister, Albus Dumbledore is hereby guilty -” Fudge sighed, “and is conditionally pardoned!” 

“Pardoned?” Malfoy, who was amongst in favor of the prosecution, was in disbelief. 

“Albus Dumbledore, you are hereby given a judicial bargain of assisting the Ministry of Magic to combat You-Know-Who’s imminent dangers and prosecute Death Eaters and their supporters who have assisted them by any means, however significant it may be. You are also tasked to retrieve Harry Potter from the muggle world, otherwise you will face lifetime imprisonment in Azkaban and redaction of all the honors that were bestowed in your name. Do you agree to this bargain?” 

Dumbledore was in awe of his luck. He would be completely free from the jail while doing what he had been doing all these years. The ministry’s surveillance may be on him every second, but nothing else changed for him. 

“But why do you need Harry Potter? He is no use to us anymore. Do you plan to use him as a sort of rallying icon?” DUmbleore asked suspiciously. 

“Why, you've given me a great idea, Dumbledore!” Fudge smiled victoriously, “your heartfelt and passionate speech for the squibs inspired me to provide funding for research of squibs and their cure. Perhaps Mr. Potter can be of a great assistance!” 

**Author's Note:**

> As a non-UK writer, I will do as much as I can to accurately depict UK in an appropriate manner for this pic's chronological setting. I apologize in advance for any inaccuracies, but please remember THIS IS A FICTION.


End file.
